life is sweet • life is colorful — Nikki Rappaport

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It’s been a bit of a soul-searching week for me. Starting with this mantra on Monday – I’ve been going back and forth between cleansing, energizing, and rediscovering my passions and values. Pretty emotional…and it’s still only Thursday! (Good thing I have friends like K who I can count on to enjoy life and its endless desserts with me.)

It wasn’t intentional, but these blueberry lemon cupcakes kind of represent how I’ve been feeling. There’s the pure comfort and delight of blueberries, which remind me of simple backyard family time. Our go-to summer dessert was always fresh berries over whipped cream and pound cake. They’re like home base. Soul food. The lemon is everything I want to be right now. Bright, vivacious, to-the-point. A boost of energy and excitement. The goal is to marry these two lovely flavors to create heartfelt impact.

Well ok, that was just a long winded way to say that these are yummy cupcakes. It’s no surprise these two flavors go so well together – add in some cream cheese frosting and you’ve got a no frills (or super complex if you look at it through my feelings) summer dessert. Perfect for sharing with girlfriends at book club on a candlelit deck.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in lemon zest, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Alternate incorporating flour mixture and milk into the batter.

Toss blueberries in the extra 2 tablespoons of flour and gently fold blueberries into the batter. Pour into cupcake cups and bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating pans half way.

For the frosting, beat all the ingredients together and frost on cooled cupcakes. Top with more blueberries and lemon zest.

Tell me about one of your summer dessert memories. Or a dessert that embodies how you’re feeling today. Sometimes it’s just a little easier to process your worries and ideas when you break them down to simple sugar and butter.

Chris and I took a tip out to the Shenandoah Valley yesterday to have a relaxing Saturday and visit a vineyard. I’ll post his amazing photos from our trip soon, but first a little about how we started our day. It was a long trip, at least 2 hours from DC, so we needed some snacks and a good breakfast. I baked some crumbly berry muffins, picked up some coffee and OJ and we were on our way.

A couple of things about these muffins. I made them extra large and extra crumbly (not so easy to eat while driving, but still delish). The berries were really juicy and they have just enough sweetness on top. Finally, I’m in love with my pumpkin pie spices blend. I ran out of cinnamon about a week ago, and have been using this in place of it. It just adds so much to my baked goods and makes them all taste a little more fall-ish. I bought mine at Trader Joes and it’s a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.

Yes, tomorrow is FREE Pastry Day at Starbucks. You can get yours by showing this coupon (even just on your phone) before 10:30am tomorrow when you purchase any drink.

But this post isn’t about Starbucks pastries…it’s about making your own. And they can be just as fast and simple and delicious. You can grab some to go with your home-brewed morning coffee and skip the $6 breakfast out. And I promise, this tastes even better.

I started out calling this “pie” but really, it isn’t like pie at all. It’s kind of like a scone or coffee cake; perfect for breakfast or dessert.

Ok, so go get your free pastry tomorrow. I will too. But then, on Wednesday or this weekend, make this instead!

Better than Free Cranberry Pastry

2 cups cranberries/blueberries or combination

1/2 cup walnuts

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350°.

Evenly spread out cranberries, blueberries and walnuts on the bottom of an 9″ round pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.

Pour batter over the fruit/nut mix.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Let cool before digging in.

FYI, this pastry is very crumbly and probably won’t cut into perfect slices – just embrace it.